hated

This building was so loathed that it inspired a construction ban.

Bursting skyward from one of the most iconic skylines in the world is a building that was so hated after its construction, a law was passed to stop any more like it being built.

Tour Montparnasse is a towering, 210 metre high office skyscraper which juts up above the Montparnasse area of Paris. It was built in 1969, and is the fourth tallest building in all of France still to this day.

The tower does have an observation deck which offers views across Paris. However, there is a common joke amongst Parisians that it is the most beautiful view in the city purely because it is the only place from which you cannot see the tower itself.

Designed by architects Eugène Beaudouin Urbain Cassan and Louis de Hoÿm de Marien, the tower is a simple monolithic office block that is at odds with the rest of the surrounding buildings.

It was so strongly disliked that two years after its construction was finished, a law was passed banning the construction of any building over seven storeys in Paris.

This law stayed in place up until 2015 and was reinstated in 2023 after the construction of the Tour Triangle, the 180 metre tall pyramid-shaped glass skyscraper at Porte de Versailles.

The construction of the building was delayed by 12 years due to the backlash and multiple legal and planning battles.

In 2017, Paris approved a £680 million renovation project to revitalize Tour Montparnasse by stripping it back to its frame and replacing the dark facade with transparent glazing.

There were plans for sky gardens to soften the outline, and openings to allow natural ventilation to the building.

There was even a plan to transform the upper floors into a luxury hotel, but the entire project was scrapped earlier this week.

According to sotiraparis, this is because the asset manager of the building told the co-owners that it no longer wished to pay for the transformation and instead wants to opt for a more modest renovation which isn’t so expensive.

The future of the building now looks uncertain. A new team of architects will need to make a new plan for the renovation, but the building permit expires in November of this year, which makes things even more challenging.

There has been no timeline announced for the new project as of yet.

BIG news for families who travel on Ryanair flights.

The airline has announced that it has changed its policy so that families can sit together free of charge.

In a statement made today, Ryanair said that there will be free parent and child seats available together in the rear of its planes for families.

For adults travelling with children who choose this new seating option, they will be told of their seat allocation after they have checked in for their flight.

This is the case with most other airlines in Europe.

Families who opt for this are likely to be seated towards the back of the plane.

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It’s still an option for families to choose their seats in advance, but this does require a seat reservation fee.

Previously, Ryanair’s Ts&Cs required at least one parent to sit with their children aged 2-11 when they fly.

This was done through what Ryanair calls a “mandatory family seat”, which the parent must pay for in order to secure a seat next to them for their child.

For all other passengers, reserving a seat is optional.

This fee applies to both outbound and return flights and typically costs around £8 each way.

Ryanair’s website refers to “Free reserved seats for kids under 12”, but the parents and guardians had to pay a booking fee to access these seats.

Typically, other airlines offer to seat children with a parent or guardian without the need for a paid-for adult seat reservation, or allocate seats together automatically during booking for free.

The new policy comes in on new bookings made from today.

The airline is facing investigation by the CMA to determine whether the practice is “in line with consumer law”.

On the policy change, a CMA spokesperson said: “Ryanair claims its seating policy now complies with the law, and we’ll test that thoroughly. If true, it’s a win for families – who will no longer have to pay to sit with their children – and it shows the impact our new powers are having.

“But it doesn’t change the fact families have been paying for ‘mandatory family seats’. Our investigation remains ongoing.”

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary commented on the changes…

Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, said: “Turning a blind eye to the high fares charged by airlines on routes with no Ryanair competition, the CMA has now targeted our family seating policy which has been universally embraced by consumers as the most progressive and transparent in Europe.

“Instead of promoting competitiveness and lower fares for consumers, the CMA is on a mission to force Ryanair to adopt the less transparent and less consumer-friendly family seating policy applied by most other airlines – just because it’s the industry standard.”

He said that the airline will “reluctantly adjust” to the industry standard.

Michael explained that “families may have to wait until after they have checked in to find out their seat allocation”.

And that these seats are likely to be at the “rear of the cabin”